There is a minute-long shot in the final minutes of The Assassin, a historical drama by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien, that is focused on a herd of goats chewing the grass. It’s not an establishing shot because several scenes have already taken place on this farm. It doesn’t seem to provide any commentary on the rest of the film, and unlike several other somewhat out-of-place shots in the film, it doesn’t seem to have been included to show off the stunning scenery or great camerawork by cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bin. This is just a shot of goats. It’s confusing though, and in some ways it’s a perfect representation of The Assassin, a film that won Best Director at Cannes but one that I thought was extremely underwhelming.
Set during the Tang Dynasty (ninth century China), The Assassin focuses on the titular assassin Yinniang (Shu Qi), who is trained to be a deadly warrior, and her task to assassinate Lord Tian Ji’an (Chang Chen). However, Yinniang and Tian have a shared past, and Yinniang is hesitant to kill him. What follows is a film full of political intrigue, mysterious feuds, and absolutely beautiful cinematography.
Where The Assassin doesn’t succeed is in the composition of the film as a whole. Despite being only 105 minutes, The Assassin is a long, drawn-out film with very little story. While some of that can be attributed to the film’s stunning shots, there are sequences in the narrative that seem to serve no purpose except to look good. While there is no problem with that in cinema, it’s an issue for most moviegoers when a huge portion of the runtime of a film doesn’t advance any story. It’s like Hou is attempting to ape French New Wave movies, but without the engaging story. The fact that the action sequence are so well-shot and choreographed makes the uneventful parts of the film seem not ponderous but excessive. It’s a film clearly made for the art critics. Because of that, while The Assassin is gorgeous to look at, it’s not the type of movie that will engage most viewers, particularly ones who are expecting martial arts action.
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